Home > TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
By Luke Fisher
TEFL or Teaching English as Foreign Language is an increasingly popular way to travel overseas. TEFL (also known as TESOL) affords the opportunity to earn a living while traveling which helps to lessen the costs of what was has become, for most, a necessary but increasingly expensive desire. The advantage with TEFL as opposed to other employment and travel options overseas is the immediate opportunity teachers have to immerse themselves in new cultures, more often than not what most want from their experience overseas but often difficult to obtain. As an English teacher you will be a respected part of the local community. As a result, windows of social opportunities within new cultures, often closed to outsiders, will continually open to you. In addition, and probably best of all, TEFL offers the opportunity to help and enrich the lives of others through education.
English is quickly becoming the world language of communication. As the need to learn English increases as does the need for teachers to teach this language. In times past the simple requirement to teach English as a foreign language was that the applicant be a native or fluent English speaker, no qualifications required. As the demand for teachers has increased, most employers now require applicants to have formal qualifications. Generally, the type of qualifications required, reflect the financial status of the country. For example, employers in Japan or Italy require that applicants have a degree in any field and are TEFL certified, while employers in say Cambodia or Chile only require applicants to be TEFL certified.
There are a number of TEFL training companies to choose from, some good and some not so good. When choosing a TEFL course provider you should ascertain whether the provider is accredited by an external examining body, if it is then the course and qualification awarded will be recognized and accepted internationally.
|
|
|
Check to see if the course provides teaching practice with actual students of English and that the teaching English as a foreign language course itself involves at least 100hrs of training. Other criteria to consider is the course materials, content of the course and course structure.
Once you have chosen a TEFL course provider the application procedure is fairly simple and quick. The only criteria for being eligible to undertake a TEFL course being that the applicant is a native or near native English speaker. Post application, often a deposit payment is a requirement to secure a place on a course with the balance of course fees being payable at the beginning of the course itself.
TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language, once the bastion of groovy back packers with a mission, is now the stable path for graduates dearly looking for life and travel experience, for those unhappy with the politicians and environment of their home country and wanting to start again in a new location free from all the nonsense, for retirees wanting to make amends for a working life that was a necessity rather than a choice and for those unhappy with their jobs and wanting a new challenge in a job that gives back a lot more than a salary. There are now more and more people from all walks of life considering TEFL and teaching English as a foreign language as a very possible alternative to their current status. With the situation as it stands now, there are not enough qualified teachers to cater to the worldwide demand for English, so fortunately this is better news for those wishing to learn English.
TEFL International: Where the world is your classroom.